The Sacred Place of Possibility

In this season of thanks, I cherish all people who work with the horses in helping heal hearts and souls. I am especially grateful for all of my students over the years who are taking this work out into the wider world.

My joy and my heart deeply resonate with the many students I have taught through my individual mentorship and with students from other program offered worldwide. I am taking on new mentorship students, so please contact me directly to find out more about the program to see how it would fit your personal needs and desires.

Support for Coaches and Mental Health Professionals

*Would you like to learn more about how your thoughts, emotions, energy and habits affect your interactions with clients?
*Would you like your sessions to be more effective?
*Would you like to understand human relatedness and connection and the underlying science behind human to human contact?
*How about helping clients and yourself to be more embodied and in the present moment?

With my guidance and support, I guarantee you will feel better about your practice and your clients will find more happiness and peace. Utilizing many of the principles and lessons gleamed from my years working with horses, I am offering coaching and mentorship for mental health professionals and coaches. My experience of over 30 years as a psychotherapist and addictions' counselor qualify me to help others who have followed a similar path. I am also certified through the Pathfinders Institute in Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and am a Board Certified Coach.

I have noticed that many practitioners ask for and need support around projection, transference, and their own counter-transference issues. It is so important to know how to take care of ourselves energetically so that we do not absorb the feelings and conflicts our clients are experiencing. The coaching model works with a more collaborative partnership with clients and I have found that both coaches and psychotherapists can benefit for using this model. I have found that whether you engage horses or work in an office or corporate setting that I can enhance your practice.

This is individualized program for people working with people. Sessions are designed to meet the needs of each individual seeking support and advice. Whether you decide on 6 sessions, or longer, we can investigate together ways to make your practice more viable and help your expand your own listening hearts.

To follow are some testimonials from three of my graduates from the mentorship program:

Kathleen's mentorship program, guidance and support have brought me to a new place in my professional and personal life. Kathleen has been my shining star and has taught me valuable lessons as a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist working alongside my beautiful herd of horses, as well as enhancing the way I experience relationships in my personal life.

The mentorship program is the most gratifying experience and has given me so much more than I expected. In the six months Kathleen and I have worked together, I have completely changed the way I offer my business, redesigned my service and expanded my client base. I never expected to achieve so much in such a short space of time.
Lesley Gough, Psychotherapist, UK

"My experience in Kathleen's mentorship program was truly life changing. The thought-provoking reading assignments and consultations profoundly expanded my awareness of the equine facilitated learning field, in addition to transforming my overall understanding of human relatedness and connectivity. Her incredible wisdom of the healing potential of the horse-human bond, in addition to her vast background as a psychotherapist and her incredible knowledge and passion of neuroscience resulted in numerous discoveries and "a-ha" moments.
Vatonia Harris Counselor, Alberta Canada

I absolutely cannot put into words the value of Kathleen's program, her years of wisdom, and generous heart. She is truly in this work to make a difference.

Kathleen is the consummate heart felt professional, offering incredible structure, background, and documentation as a platform for her mentorship students. But from there, she is able to truly be with and understand all the challenges of the learning that might come up and holds your sacred space in such a way the you soar to your accomplishment and knowledge in this work.
Carla O'Brien, Certified Coach, Virginia

If these testimonials inspire you please check out my mentorship page and find more from the other people participating in the program. I highly recommend these individuals.

Email me with your questions and we can begin a dialogue on how we can design a program just for you. I offer a free 15 minute consultation to see if what I offer can help you expand your practice and encourage you to soar!

My friend and colleague, Yvonne Monahan from Ireland at HorseHumanHarmony.com, sent me this article by Eckart Tolle which I believe describes well what I mean by "Holding the Sacred Space of Possibility". He writes about what makes a great counselor, psychotherapist, or coach.

Do you regard psychotherapy or counseling as useful?
By Eckhart Tolle

The essential factor in therapy is the state of consciousness of the therapist, regardless of the modality that the therapist is using. One would think that psychotherapy such as Jungian has much more of a spiritual dimension to it than Freudian, for example. To some extent that's true, but the actual method or modality used is really secondary. The primary factor is the state of consciousness of the therapist.

Even in certain modalities that one would not describe as spiritual at all, there are some therapists who after years of applying their modality will suddenly develop - often without even knowing it - the ability to simply be there and listen. So, to some extent, they let go of trying to apply the particular grid or map that they have learned and applied to that particular person's situation and they suddenly just go into spacious listening.

And then whatever they contribute becomes more spontaneous. They no longer just apply what they have learned to the patient/therapist situation. They go beyond what they have learned and in many cases almost forget completely what they have learned. It's only then that they become truly effective therapists.

If they simply apply the acquired knowledge - even if the acquired knowledge seems to have a spiritual dimension to it - that's all very good but more importantly is the therapist able to let go of their knowledge? It's good that they had the knowledge first. They still might use fragments of their knowledge in the therapy situation, but the primary tool becomes awareness.

This can happen even to a psychoanalyst who usually would be very much mind- identified, even denying anything spiritual. There are some who after years of working with people suddenly just become present. They don't even know that this is what's happening. And then they work more and more intuitively - and that's when therapy becomes really effective. If that is not the case, if that dimension is missing, then of course there is the danger that you just keep telling your victim story (or whatever it is) and you never transcend that.

It is helpful, of course, to know one's own unconscious patterns - to make the unconscious patterns conscious - what we could call "self-knowledge." Level one of self-knowledge is to become aware of your own patterns, and it's always surprising how difficult it seems to be for people to recognize their own areas of unconsciousness. It seems to be so hard. So, self-knowledge is the hardest knowledge and this is only level one of self-knowledge: to recognize your own patterns.

Level two of self-knowledge is to know who you are beyond the patterns. The patterns are important to recognize because they can block your progression. You cannot reach level two as long as you're completely trapped in level one. If that's the case there will be huge areas of your life that prevent you from realizing who you are.

So, it's good to approach level one. Some people do it through therapy. Others just go through a more spontaneous recognition, or they listen to their friends or people they work with. If one person says something about you, it could of course simply be their projection. Two people? It could be their projection. However, if ten people say the same thing about you, then you might want to listen!

To sum up, you could have no knowledge whatsoever of therapy and start working with people and just be present. It would be quite enough, and then the correct answers would come through you and you would be a wonderful reflection for that person. So, the absolute prerequisite to being an effective therapist is presence - to be able to be the awareness; to offer the patient or client the space of awareness. You will intuitively say what is needed if you are present.

So, look for a therapist who is present - or preferably, become so present that you don't need any more therapists.

Happy holidays with many blessings!

Hope you have had a great summer! We are just finishing the monsoons here in Tucson, which gives us Desert Rats a change of pace from the extreme heat. It is surprising how I look forward to the sound of thunder with the anticipation of rain. Growing up in the Chicago area I certainly got my share of all types of weather, so I must now officially be a Tucson resident! As I am writing this the thunder is bringing some blessed rain---yeah!

My biggest trip this summer began with a Safari in Kenya and then ended with 3 weeks of workshops in the UK. My sister, Beth O'Donnell, an accomplished artist and photographer put together the safari for me and some of my friends. Beth's book "Angels in Africa" Profiles of Seven Extraordinary Women, text by Kimberly Sevick, is a beautiful tribute to the women in sub-Sahara Africa who are making a difference in their communities and working to improve lives despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. To find out more about Beth's book and the project go to www.AngelsInAfrica.com

Since I am so interested - as are many of my readers - in animal communication and the new field of Trans-species Psychology I embarked on this amazing adventure through that lens. Trans-species Psychology is the study of the mind and the emotions that serve both human and animals. This allows us, without anthropomorphizing, to understand what it feels like to walk in animals' shoes. As we begin to know and understand the similarities between the structures and mechanisms of the brain and behavior of all sentient beings we can find answers to challenge and support us all in this new paradigm of mutual sustaining relationships.

Carl Jung, in search of the primal mind on a trip through equatorial Africa, found himself perilously close to the same experience Jesus of Nazareth faced in his 40 days and nights in the desert. Jung said, "The trip revealed itself as less an investigation of primitive psychology....than a probing into a rather embarrassing question: What is going to happen to Jung the psychologist in the wilds of Africa?" This encounter had him come face to face with "totemic consciousness" ---a consciousness that is no longer exclusively human. He risked something from these mirrored minds and found himself poised to Know as he was Known.

Allan Schore's seminal work in Neuropsychology has earned him the epithet of the "American Bowlby". His article, "Attachment, Affect Regulation, and the Developing Right Brain: Linking Developmental Neuroscience to Pediatrics" inspires me to ask the question: "Can limbic resonance or affect regulation with the horse begin to repair some of the damage from the original developmental trauma?" Affective Neuroscience is dedicated to understanding the neural substrates of emotion and feeling and when married to Attachment Theory is called Interpersonal Neurobiology.

"In Mammals, the capacity for self-regulation is essential for survival. It endows the animal with the capability to make fluid shifts in internal bodily states to meet changes in the external environment. Animals with developed orbitofrontal systems have evolved the capacity to switch between different emotional states. This ability, known as affect regulation, allows animals to vary their emotions to appropriately match environmental demands. In humans, this highly evolved adaptive function, according to Schore and others, is the basis for the core of the self...As we change our bodily sensations, we change the highest function of our brains. Emotional regulation, our rudder through life, comes about through embodiment." from "In An Unspoken Voice" by Peter Levine.

If you want to hear more about these exciting new developments in trans-species Psychology and Interpersonal Neurobiology come and join me in Washington State later this month with Drea Bowen or in October in Brisbane, Australia.

Blessings,
Kathleen

September 19 - 20, 2015: Premier Equine Experiential Learning, WA

Equine Experiential Learning & Psychotherapy ~ A Portal to Exploring the Creative Energy of Curiosity, Generosity, and Authenticity with Kathleen Ingram and Drea Bowen.

Creativity is at the core of our authenticity. It is also dialogical, cultivated and emergent in relationship. Having evolved together for thousands of years, horses and humans offer each other an instinctive opportunity for authentic connection. Horses are not only socially bonded, similar to humans but, are wired neurobiologically in brain and mind in much the same way. Our similarities create meaningful opportunities for healing limbic wounds and inspiring new neural ways of seeing ourselves, interacting with others, and experiencing our world relationally.

This workshop integrates the science and sensibilities of horses to learn more deeply about our equine kin and how relationships with them can be enriched for friendship, healing and personal discovery. We begin by introducing the new field of trans-species psychology that incorporates principles of psychology and neuroscience with ethology. We discuss the science, nature and quality of relationships that shape the mind and brain from birth throughout adulthood (not just in humans), and discover how inters-species social experiences with horses, pertain to healing attachment wounds through connection and authenticity.

This highly engaging, educational, and thought provoking workshop is tailored for facilitators, therapists, horse guardians, and others in the healing professions. Imagine the possibilities that exist within mutual relationship with non human animals for encouraging creativity through generosity of spirit and authentic self expression.

Hours: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm each day, 8 - 10 maximum participants
Cost: $395
Location: Silverdale, WA
To schedule contact [email protected]

*Bring a lunch (frig/microwave available) or lunch can be provided for an addition $5 per day

October 13 – 15, 2015 For Facilitators: Using Equine Assistance to Work with Victims of Sexual Abuse, Bundaberg, Australia

Kathleen will be traveling to Phoenix House in Bundaberg, Australia (near Brisbane) to present at a workshop designed for therapists and facilitators around the assistance of horses working with people with sexual abuse. With this workshop you will gain understanding of how to integrate your client's healing from Equine Facilitated Therapy sessions with continued in-office sessions.

Through the latest neuroscience research we understand that there are 3 brains operating in all mammals; the brain in the head, the brain in the heart, and the brain in the gut; we are engaging all three brains when working in relationship with other mammals. When we have a direct experience, as in the work with the horses, it goes first to the neurological networks of the intestinal tract (brain in the gut) and then travels to the heart (brain in the heart). This is why horses, as prey animals, are so good at measuring the inner state of people, checking them out for any incongruences and responding from their guts and hearts and not from the brain in the head where language can distort and deny what is actually happening.

Clinical evidence on neuroplasticity indicates that the brain can change its structure and function through thought and activity. Experiential work with horses moves the body through a series of exercises that can facilitate this process. These exercises are designed to help people with boundaries, emotions and the meaning behind an emotion, questioning beliefs and thoughts, and learning how to be in relationship with self and others.

We will also examine limbic connection through relationship with the concepts of limbic resonance, limbic regulation, and limbic revision. Horses can help people differentiate from an actual present moment experience of fear and the body/ mind memory of fear. An experience with the horse is a somatic experience, bringing the client back to this body memory can help develop a new neural pathway with more opportunities for change.

Registration closes: September 28, 2015
Location: Fairymead House, Thornhill St., Baundaberg North, Qld
Cost: $498 (Includes tea, lunch and training)
For more information and to register: http://sacredplaceofpossibility.com/events/october-13-15-2015-for-facilitators-using-equine-assistance-to-work-with-victims-of-sexual-abuse-bundaberg-australia/?utm_source=September+2015+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Trans-species+Psychology&utm_medium=email

Intensives in Arivaca, Arizona

Tina Suaso and Kathleen are pleased to announce their collaboration in conducting personal, family or small group intensives and retreats in Arivaca, Arizona. The work with the horses will be conducted at Equinox Ranch and the lodging for people and families is at Pandora Ranch, a short drive from the horses. Tina Suaso. PhD is a spiritual teacher and psychotherapist who resides in Tucson, Arizona.

Tina and Kathleen have put together this amazing opportunity for individuals to have a personal experience with two facilitators and the horses. Kathleen's extensive experience in psychotherapy and the field of EFL along with Tina's experience as a psychotherapist and shamanic practitioner qualify them to present a unique opportunity. Equine adventures along with shamanic drumming, shamanic journeying, expressive arts, Chi Gong and other modalities suited to the individual or small group make this an exciting and fulfilling spiritual journey.

To find out more about this opportunity and to schedule an intensive/retreat, contact Kathleen and a phone consult will be arranged.

June 15 – 19, 2015: Equine Assisted Qualifications: Facilitator Training Programme, Module 2, UK

IFEAL Qualifications for Equine Facilitated Human Development and Learning is an interdisciplinary vocational education for medical and mental health professionals, educators, equine professionals, health and well-being practitioners and all business professionals who want to professionally master the art of employing horses in the field of human development.

www.IFEAL.me

June 22 – 24, 2015: Zone of Intuitive Knowing Workshop with Kathleen and Sun Tui, UK

Kathleen’s signature concept “Holding the Sacred Space of Possibility” came out of her observations of the horses innate ability to honor and deeply commune with humans who strive authentically to accept their vulnerability.

The sacred space resides in your heart, your mind and your soul. It is from this deep place within that you access a profound “Zone of Intuitive Knowing”

Can you imagine the potential and possibilities of actively living life from this place of knowing?

The Zone of Intuitive Knowing is a radical programme for people interested in the science of the subtle energetic and physiological connections between all of life. It is thought that all beings exist as a unity, inter-dependent in relationship with all, in an invisible web of a quantum field. Horses, as consummate teachers, can show us how to develop this regenerative knowing – to rediscover and reconnect to the unlimited power of the unified source.

Your biography becomes your biology

This programme includes experiential opportunities with the horses that engage our innate abilities to use the body as a tool for self knowledge and perception for health and well being.

Direct, spontaneous transformational change occurs easily when we understand our pain and illness from the perspective of unity of the body and mind in the moment – in the NOW. This way we effortlessly let go of the limiting beliefs and stories of the past and re-script new life enriching pathways to a future of other possibilities and potentials.

The Zone of Intuitive Knowing explores:
~Developing courage and confidence to chose health and well being
~Increases presence and effectiveness in life
~Collaborative relationships with sentient beings with mutual respect for accessing deeper wisdoms
~Communication and connection with clarity whilst in movement and flow of life

Equine assisted experiences take place with horses working on the ground in their natural environment. No riding is involved and no previous experience of horses is required.

Visit www.IFEAL.me to register.

June 27 – 28, 2015: EFL Program, A Deeper Sense, UK

‘A Deeper Sense’ lead by Kathleen Barry Ingram co-creator of The Epona Approach and Sun Tui Founder of IFEAL and The Dare to Live Trust and supported by Lesley Gough.

“The Soul is the drive to create and preserve – that of our own, other people, our community and the planet. ….we seek to persist in our own being to give voice to the soul, which is at once biological and pyschospiritual” ~ Edward Tick (from “War and the Soul”)

“A Deeper Sense” is a two day retreat experience at Charter Valley Farm offering ‘refreshment’ to professionals working as educators, therapists, healers, welfare and medical practitioners and other care givers who give much of themselves in service to others, often sacrificing their own time and needs.

The retreat offers a safe haven to explore a deeper sense of our Soul’s purpose, to contemplate our existence as ‘I AM’ and to ever deepen our primal affirmation of ‘YES’ to life, in the midst of our demanding work and lives that at times can deplete us and leave us just existing.

Charter Farms offers beautiful spaces for contemplation and connections with animals and nature to remind us of our original be-ing-ness. Facilitated experiences with horses are offered to support each participant’s uniquely individual need, in order to elicit immediate and implicit connection to the infinite reservoirs of life force resources and potentials, that exist with in us all. The retreat experiences are a deeply ‘felt’ sense and the rejuvenating wisdom gained is sustainable and indeed continues to evolve as a ‘knowing’ when returning to daily life.

Cost: £950 per person. Includes evening fire ceremony & meditation

For further information and to register please contact Lesley Gough Email: [email protected]
Website: ChaterValley.com